Low turnout mars Mexico's crime-shadowed judicial vote

Mexico's president hailed the country's unprecedented elections for judges a success even though only around 13 percent of eligible voters turned out for a poll that sharply divided opinion.

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With Mexico plagued by rampant crime, corruption and impunity, the government and its supporters argued that the reform making Mexico the only country in the world to select all of its judges and magistrates by popular vote was needed to clean up a rotten justice system.

Turnout in Sunday's polls hovered between just 12.57 and 13.32 percent of the nearly 100 million eligible voters, National Electoral Institute head Guadalupe Taddei said in a televised statement. Despite that low turnout, President Claudia Sheinbaum praised the unique exercise as a "complete success."